Washingtonians buying insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchange are getting hammered again, with regulators approving an average 22.2% premium increase for 2027. That comes immediately after an average 21% increase for 2026.

Nearly 250,000 Washingtonians shopped through the exchange last year, but enrollment has already fallen 13% from 2025. Some insurers sought increases exceeding 25%, as rising medical costs and a shrinking pool of healthier customers continue putting pressure on premiums.

Democrats sold Obamacare with “affordable” right there in the name. More than a decade later, Washington families buying their own insurance are staring at another enormous increase while state officials talk about finding still more ways to make coverage affordable.

Two consecutive 20%-plus increases is a damning indictment of the promise Democrats made in the first place – but will voters’ connect the dots? Read more at the Washington State Standard.

Wall Street Journal columnist James Freeman is pointing to an awkward bit of timing for Washington’s new 9.9% income tax on household income above $1 million: Seattle’s housing market is already softening just as voters prepare to decide the tax’s fate through Initiative 645.

Freeman cites Barron’s data showing Seattle leading year-over-year price declines among the major metros where prices fell. His argument is that homeowners watching their equity shrink may be particularly interested in whether a new income tax makes Washington less attractive to wealthy residents — and potentially adds another headwind for housing demand.

“There’s never a good time for a state to punish success and encourage residents to flee,” Freeman writes, describing November as a test of how voters view the new tax while the state’s largest housing market struggles.

Of course, plenty besides taxes moves home prices, including mortgage rates, inventory and employment. But Freeman’s thesis gives Washington’s income-tax debate a new wrinkle: homeowners don’t need to earn $1 million a year to care about what happens to the value of their house. Read more at the Wall Street Journal.

Jason Rantz is calling out a viral claim that Seattle Police stopped calling shooters “shooters” and adopted “trigger pullers” to avoid stigmatizing criminals. According to Rantz, there is no such policy. Interim Police Chief Andre Sayles simply used longstanding law-enforcement slang while explaining efforts to target repeat gun offenders after three people were killed and three wounded in Belltown. SPD has also said the phrase is informal and not mandated by department policy.

Rantz argues conservatives should be focused on Seattle’s actual problems: a police department struggling with staffing, a city grappling with shootings and street takeovers, and City Hall facing continuing questions over its handling of public safety.

Seattle provides plenty of legitimate material for criticism without making anything up. By turning police slang into a nonexistent “woke” policy, Rantz argues, conservatives handed Seattle progressives an easy distraction from the far more serious issue — three people were killed over the holiday weekend and no arrests had been made when Sayles addressed reporters. Read more at Seattle Red.

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